With increased budget constraints, how can agency leaders engage in new and existing innovations that encourage effective collaboration between the public and private sector? Tune-in as CÚsar Hidalgo, Assistant Professor, MIT Media Lab and JR Reagan, Principal, Deloitte & Touch LLP discuss innovation and its role in the Federal government.

The White House wants to take a more evidence-
based approach to budgeting.
That means agencies will have to show a return
on the investment on their programs, with more
successful programs being more likely to
receive
funding.

Host Mike Causey will talk about several issues affecting federal workers with Bill Bransford, general counsel of the Senior Executives Association and Steve Watkins and Stephen Losey of the Federal Times.
May 23, 2012

In a letter to Acting Administrator Dan Tangherlini, a bipartisan group of senators called for an evaluation of the structure of GSA's Public Buildings Service, tying it to the wasteful spending of the Las Vegas scandal.

The leaders of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee gave the acting GSA administrator 21 days to answer 41 multi-part questions about the agency's efforts to prevent waste, fraud and abuse following the now infamous Western Regions Conference. Senators also recommended the agency review all other recent GSA conferences for possible problems.

On a voice vote, the House backed the Digital Accountability and Transparency Act, known as the DATA Act. The legislation would establish uniform standards for all recipients to report federal
money and set up a single website where average Americans could search for information on how government agencies, departments and other recipients spend federal funds.

A bipartisan team in the House and Senate introduced legislation on Monday to take on "wasteful" duplication in the federal government. The bill would create a "duplicative score" for all bills introduced to Congress, similar to a potential cost estimate

Soon, financial institutions will have to spend billions of dollars to comply with the Dodd-Frank law. Cady North, a policy analyst for BGov, discusses the findings of the Bloomberg Government report: "Financial Firms to Pay $60 Billion in Dodd-Frank Fees by 2022."

OMB controller Danny Werfel said the computer matching provisions in the Privacy Act make it harder for agencies to share information that would make stopping or finding waste, fraud and abuse easier. Senate lawmakers agreed they need to update the law to protect information but reduce the complexities.